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Friday, September 28, 2018

The pure land

The author of
this little e-book, Venerable Wuling, is an American Buddhist nun. (Despite her
name, she seems to be White American.) She is affiliated with a Pure Land
denomination based in Australia, founded by Venerable Master Chin Kung. Pure
Land Buddhism is a popular form of Mahayana Buddhism in China and Japan. This organization
is Chinese-dominated.

Pure Land
Buddhism is clearly different from Theravada Buddhism, and arguably also from
the Buddha´s original teachings. It could be seen as a Buddhist form of bhakti
yoga or even a kind of Buddhist “Christianity” or “Protestantism”. According to
Pure Land teachings, attaining enlightenment is easy. It can be done in one
lifetime by the veneration of Amitabha, a bodhisattva or cosmic buddha who
plays a more central role in this tradition than the Buddha himself. By
practicing ritualized chanting and prayer, upholding basic moral precepts, and
having faith in Amitabha, the devotee will be reborn in a paradise world known
as the Pure Land in the West. Once there, the believer can either chose how to
attain full Enlightenment and reach Nirvana, or return to Earth as a
bodhisattva in order to save other sentient beings. In standard Buddhism,
salvation is difficult and can take many lifetimes to achieve. No “Pure Land”
exists, the only heaven-like stations being temporary and still part of
samsara.

According to the
legends of this particular group, Amitabha was once a human being. During
countless of eons, he accumulated enough positive karma to create a
paradise-world reachable for all devotees by relatively simple means. In a way,
Amitabha shares his good karma with those who venerate him. Compare
Christianity: Jesus forgives humanity´s sins and opens a path to salvation
previously inaccessible to the multitude. He can do this by positive karma
accumulated on the cross (if you pardon my Buddhoid interpretation of Christ´s
atonement). Since Amitabha isn´t crucified or sacrificed, an even better
comparison would be to Hindu bhakti cults, where salvation is attained by
chanting God´s name and socializing with other devotees. The theoretical
justification in both cases seems to be the same: during this spiritual dark
age, the old and taxing forms of initiation no longer work, hence salvation has
been made easy and accessible to all.

This e-book
contain very little theology or metaphysics of this kind, however. It´s mostly
a straightforward description of Pure Land basic beliefs and practices. Most of
the material describes various rituals and prayers used by this particular form
of Buddhism. For some reason, rituals devoted to death and dying are
prominently featured. Good introduction to Pure Land Buddhism, but perhaps too
much on the “ritual” side. Three stars!